Glass bottle milk delivery to local homes seems like a quaint, antiquated practice associated with an older generation. Recently, however, the Georgetown community has received a little sip of the past.

The South Mountain Creamery, located in Maryland, began delivering milk as a way to increase profits for their farm. The creamery decided to appeal directly to their customers by providing a nostalgic service and setting their own prices for their creamy products.

According to The Washington Post, when the delivery service began in 2001, Abby Brusco, current office manager of South Mountain Creamery, and her mother delivered milk to 12 homes using their Ford Explorer as the delivery truck. Nowadays, the service offers not only milk, but also yogurt, butter, cheese, breads and other farm-fresh foods, according to the South Mountain Creamery Web site. The delivery charge for the farm’s products is only $3.75, less than that for Safeway.

Along with providing fresh produce without added growth hormones or unnecessary antibiotics, Brusco says the service is convenient for the customer.

“Our service works because we are saving the customer time from having to go to the grocery store and then the impulse shopping that goes along with that `quick trip,'” she said.

Brusco added that the farm also prides itself in reducing its carbon footprint by employing reusable glass bottles. Customers are charged a $1.50 refundable deposit for each bottle delivered.

“Using glass is a great way to preserve the milk’s natural good taste, while reusing the glass bottle prevents thousands of plastic and paper cartons from entering the landfills,” South Mountain Creamery’s Web site states.

Brusco said that apart from the nostalgia that accompanies the milk delivery for many of the farm’s older customers, residents enjoy helping the local economy, a possible reason for an increase in sales during these fiscally difficult times.

“Right now the economy has not affected us at all; we are still actively growing. We get about 50 new signups a week,” Brusco said. “We figure the customer still has to eat. We know people are cutting back expenses, but food would certainly be one of the last things to be cut from the budget, especially when you want to know where the food comes from and are concerned about quality and freshness.”